Oprah Winfrey: Female Role Model

Oprah Winfrey

Who do you admire and why? When I first came across this question I immediately knew I wanted the person to be a female role model. In a world dominated by males a strong independent female is exactly what it needs. Not only did I want the person I admire to be a female, but I also wanted them to be African American seeing as to they are one of the greatest minorities. Ideas filled my head until it finally had hit me, the person who fit all my qualifications was none other than Oprah Winfrey.

For those who may not know about Oprah Gail Winfrey she is a media proprietor, actress, producer, and philanthropist, but she is most well known for being the talk show host on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah was born on January 29, 1954 in Kosciusko, Mississippi making her 61 this year. She had a very rough childhood coming from a poor single and other and being abused when she was younger. Oprah also revealed on an episode of her show centered on sexual abuse that at the tender age of 9 years old she was

molested by her cousin, uncle, and family friend. Oprah had many struggles in her life but she overcame them and eventually got a job as a host on AM Chicago which was low rated and only a half an hour, but Oprah changed that. After only being there for a couple of months Oprah took over and brought the talk show from the bottom to the top of the charts and after that her career only went up and soon she became a household name. She soon became so popular she was even casted in many award winning movies such as The Color Purple and Selma which both won the NAACP Image Award for an Outstanding Motion Picture.
Now what really makes Oprah such an amazing person is how much she wants to give back to people everywhere.

A great example of this would be The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls which is an Academy for girls in South Africa. She pledged to build this Academy in 2000 when she met Nelson Mandela and 2 years later Oprah, Nelson Mandela, The Minister of Education and Professor Kader Asmal came together to break ground on the location of the Academy, which Oprah donated $40,000,000 of her own money to help create. The school reached its full capacity in 2011 with grade levels 7 through 12 and 380 students’ total. Oprah built this school with a purpose and that was to help the women of this generation become leaders and not only create a better future for themselves but for everyone around them as well which she states perfectly in this quote “When you’re changing a girl’s life it is not just that life. You start to affect a family, a community, a

nation”.
Oprah Winfrey is one of the most ambitious, independent and caring people I know. She goes out of her way to help those in need and willing to do what it takes to make things happen which is exactly what I want to be like when I’m older, she inspires me to help those who are in need and not expect anything in return. On The Oprah Winfrey Show she gives away items sometimes over $1,000 out of the kindness ion her heart because she knows she did something good. Oprah made me want to give back to the community with hopes of making it better for yourself and those who come after you so your community can grow and become stronger as whole because a good sense of community is everything. Oprah is a hard worker and no matter how much time it takes she gets it done and with amazing results, I see so much of that in me and that’s what I love about Oprah.
Oprah had a rough start in life, but she dealt with it and overcame it to get where she wanted to be in life. She didn’t give up halfway and say I’m done, she kept pushing forward and just when she thought she did everything she could do she did even more which is so rare to come by these days. Oprah is all about empowerment and making people feel good about themselves to let them know they are worth something and have a place in this world. She gave 380 girls in South Africa hope for a better future, a future where they can do just as much good as Oprah did for them and even more, they can break the cycle of poverty and do more with their lives. Oprah took a low rated show and turned it into something everybody would watch, that just goes to show you how far hard work can get you and that why I admire Oprah Gail Winfrey.